The Believing Heart in a New Age
by Insertanimaginativenamehere
Summary: These events take place after season one of the anime. Magic has returned to the world, and with it, comes the best and worst of what it has to offer. Akko and friends continue to study in this new age, as they grow used to a world amplified by their most trusted resource.
1. PART I- Contemplating a New Era

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This takes place after the TV anime, so spoilers are everywhere!**

PART I- Luna Nova's Magic Tournament.

Chapter 1- Contemplating a New Era.

It was a quiet evening outside the building where Ursula lived. The bright blue moon cast a faint, but ever-present light on the grass that grew around the gardens next to the school's paved walkways. The trees seemed to have a sapphire tint to them, creating a relaxing picture that the witch chose to stand in. The small sounds made by bugs filled the air, and it seemed like the world stood still. Ursula's red hair she now proudly wore was being showered in the blue light made by the moon. It was almost too fitting. She wasn't sure whether to feel confident in the new age of magic created from Akko unlocking Grand Triskelion or not, just as the color of her hair in the light was seemingly caught between the two colors it has been since she lost the now departed shiny rod. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps disrupted the thoughts swirling inside Ursula's head.

"Ah, Chariot! What are you doing up so late? At the meeting we were just at, you kept telling us how tired you were!" The headmistress asked with one hand holding a glass of water.

"Oh, headmistress!" Ursula replied. "I'm sorry, I said I was tired at the meeting, but I just can't sleep." Ursula replied as she took the glass of water from the headmistresses' hand. She started drinking from the cup quietly, as if she wasn't trying to wake someone up, despite being outside her building, with her familiar, Alcor, being located inside her room. "It's just that, I'm not sure what to think about magic being revived." The headmistress looked to the moon, and looked back at Ursula, who was fixated on the very same location.

"You're worried about Croix still?" She said warmly.

"Well, yes, but not primarily. Even though she'll probably face jail time for her actions, she's smart enough to learn from her mistakes. I should know, I went to school with her!" Ursula replied, along with some clearly forced laughter. After silence returned to the conversation, the headmistress banished it yet again.

"Are you worried about Akko?"

"What? That's preposterous, headmistress! I'm nothing but proud of her! Didn't you hear? She finally flew on her broom two days ago! There's nowhere to go but up for my darling pupil!"

"Chariot, you can't pull a fast one on me. I won't be offended just because she unlocked Grand Triskelion. Please, speak your mind." Ursula looked down to the ground, and let out a long sigh. Her glasses were then removed from her face by her fingers.

"I just wanted her to be more prepared for something like this, that's all." Ursula muttured. The headmistress slowly looked over in Ursula's direction.

"I know that's not all, Chariot. Continue when you're ready." After a few seconds, the silence was broken again.

"I don't know if Akko was ready to lose the shiny rod. Her knowledge outside of the rod's spells is very limited. Not that I don't think she can get better, but, if it were up to me, I wouldn't have had it this way. I feel that magic being in the state it was in, that being, pretty niche for lack of a better word, was better for her to get accustomed to how magic can be used and how magic is perceived by those who aren't witches. Yes, she's had bits and pieces of this during her time at Luna Nova, but in my opinion, it wasn't enough. Now it's only a matter of time before magic hits the mainstream, and while I'm not completely sad about this, it is something that could end up being a huge blow to her confidence. Especially with the decision we made during tonight's staff meeting."

"Ah, that's right. You were the only one who was opposed to our decision, but, you were overruled."

"At least before, Akko had a method of casting spells that wasn't just the two spells she's the most comfortable with. Those being Metamorphosis magic, and now, flight."

"Yes, I remember. Also, don't you mean the only two spells she _knows_?" Ursula was quiet for several seconds again.

"Yes, headmistress. The only two spells she knows. I'm just scared for her, but, I don't know exactly what to feel, because this mess is all my fault too! What if I was able to settle matters with Croix before her missile launched? Would Akko still have the shiny rod as a cushion for her magical abilities? But then, she wouldn't have unlocked Grand Triskelion! I _do_ believe that Akko can become a splendid witch! I really do! But there's part of me that thinks she won't cut it in a world where magic hits the mainstream!" Ursula seemed out of breath for a second. Mostly due to her becoming choked up by her own thoughts that were a big juxtaposition to her actions around her pupil and fellow staff members. The scene grew quiet once more. The headmistress took note that Ursula's breathing seeming to have a shakiness to it. It was most definitely the unstable air of one who was about to cry. After several moments of watching Ursula lost in her conflicting thoughts, silence was once again banished from the conversation.

"You know, Chariot." The Headmistress said. "I was a bad student too!"

"Yes, I know. You've told me about your days as a student here several times."

"Not as bad as Akko, but still pretty miserable."

"Yes."

"My teacher who took _me_ under her wing, never finished her final lesson."

Ursula gasped, and looked up from the ground. She looked over at the headmistress in shock, to see her blissfully watching the stars.

"You've never told me _that_ before!"

"Yes, well, you can probably guess that it's something I prefer not to talk about."

"I'm so sorry, headmistress!"

"It's quite alright. You have no reason to apologize. I've lost a lot of close friends in my life. But without each one of those losses, I never would have gotten where I am today. Without those sacrifices others gave for me, I would have quit magic during my first semester! It's a yin and yang situation."

"Oh dear, headmistress! I'm sorry for your losses!"

"I already said you had no reason to apologize, Chariot. The reason I brought that up is so you can appreciate what life gives you in terms of loss and gain. There was once a part of me that would gladly bring my lost teacher back if I had the chance. But then I came to realize that if I did that, she would probably bash me on the head with her cane and call me a whippersnapper or a loon!"

"Did...did she do that?"

"Yes, quite frequently when I began training under her! Eventually, I learned to cast a magic shield so I could counter her! It's how I learned the basics of materialization magic!" The headmistress laughed a hearty laugh, which left Ursula confused. She then let out a loud sigh, and her smile returned.

"Anyway, nowadays, even though I look back on that period of my life fondly, I don't want to go back to those times. It's important to always look to now, to see what we can do with what our mentors taught us. Croix will probably be labeled as a criminal, and Akko has brought magic back from obscurity. There's nothing you can do to change that." The two look directly at each other, and even the bugs seem to go quiet. "If you remember nothing else from what I've told you tonight, remember this. Learn to live with your mistakes. Learn to live with your successes, and especially, don't look so intently on the past that you can't see the present!" Silence returned, and Ursula looked away while the headmistress kept her gaze solely on her. Ursula appeared to be shocked by what she had just heard, and the words echoed deep into her heart. Suddenly, Ursula realized that the headmistresses' hand was extended again. This time however, she held a tissue.

"Goodness headmistress, am I really that easy to read?"

"Easier than the beginner's book for broom flying you gave to Akko." Ursula took the tissue from the headmistresses' hand, and blew into softly while tears streamed down her face.

"Are you alright, Chariot?"

"We're... the mentors for the next generation."

"Yes, we are."

"That means, no matter what happens, we do our jobs to the best of our ability."

"Right, you are."

"No matter what happens, we do our best for the people we care for."

"Take your time Chariot. You're voice is becoming shaky again." She blew into the tissue a few more times. Buried her face into it for several seconds in order to dry her face, and looked up at the moon again.

"I want...to make sure Akko becomes a splendid witch, and help Croix clear her name!" Ursula broke out into a small, natural laugh. "Goodness, sorry for the theatrics, headmistress." She stopped when she realized she was alone. She looked around for a moment, and rounded the corner nearest to her that led to where the headmistress' room was. There, she found the headmistress a good distance away from her.

"Headmistress!" She yelled. "Thank you for your kind words!"

"Don't mention it, Chariot! But please don't forget them!" As the headmistress disappeared into the night, Ursula clenched the tissue firmly in her right hand.

"I'll do whatever it takes to nurture the next generation!" Ursula said with determination. She walked back to her room, and shut the door quietly. She was about halfway up the stairs when she realized that she forgot to ask the headmistress not to call her Chariot.


	2. PART I- A School-Shaking Announcement

Chapter 2- A School-Shaking Announcement.

Assemblies were rather unusual at Luna Nova. Other than entrance ceremonies, there wasn't really any reason to gather all of the students and staff in one place. Akko, Lotte, and Sucy waited patiently with the rest, but couldn't help but chatter like everyone else, due to the anticipation of a huge announcement.

"I don't want to be _that_ girl, but, do you think we'll get rewards of some kind for stopping the missile Croix launched?" Akko asked her friends while fidgeting around, full of energy. Lotte and Sucy looked at each other for a moment, and then looked back at Akko.

"Akko, I think that's going to be kept on the down low around here." Lotte responded, in an attempt to bring Akko back down to Earth.

"What do you mean? We would at least be acknowledged in some fashion, wouldn't we?" Akko asked in an attempt to make sense of her friend's statement. Sucy leaned back in her seat, and folder her arms, giving off the impression that she had everything figured out.

"While you, I, Lotte, Amanda, Diana, Constanze, and Jasminka were able to stop that missile from causing even more chaos, rewarding us in front of the entire school would only make it look like this school's staff considers us the cream of the crop. While you might think we are, the truth is, we had your Shiny Rod helping us out most of the time. Now that that thing's gone, we would only look like individuals among the rest being put above everyone else on explanation alone." Sucy answered as she shrugged, closed her eyes, and cocked her head back. Akko was puzzled. Her demeanor changed to a more solemn state as she turned her head toward her other friend.

"So… does that mean I'm being too confident?" Akko asked.

"In a way, yeah." Sucy replied while pointing her finger right at her stumped friend. "But it also feels like you're trying to put yourself over others when right now. Even though those others are objectively better witches than you are. Especially since you don't have the Shiny Rod anymore." Akko looked down to the space her chair was resting on. Her expectations had been firmly grounded in reality.

"Now, Akko, Sucy wasn't trying to hurt your feelings." Lotte interjected quickly.

"I just wanted you to think more realistically." Sucy clarified. "Yeah, Professor Croix's broadcast showcased what you and Diana could do on a huge scale, but again, that was with the Shiny Rod." There was a small pause in the conversation. Sucy looked to her left where she saw Akko's head hang low. "If I were you, Akko, I'd be more proud of learning how to fly than unlocking Grand Triskelion." Lotte looked over at Sucy, rather frustrated.

"Sucy! That's kind of mean.-" Lotte was cut off by the girl she was aiming to defend.

"No, Lotte." Akko said in a rather serious fashion. "Everything Sucy said was right." Her head was hung low, and her brow was slightly furrowed along with it. "Even though I could use the Shiny Rod well, I can't use it if it's not here. It's time for me to finally make some of my own magic!" After she had accepted the fact, the slight tension between the three mostly dissolved. It was at that point, everyone in the crowd was hushed, as all of the teachers and staff walked onto the stage. The headmistress approached the podium, and readjusted the microphone to suit her. After doing so, she pushed her glasses back into place, and all eyes were on her.

"Good morning, students of Luna Nova! First things first, I would like to apologize. Due to a mishap involving one of our former teachers, that you all are most definitely aware of, we had to shut the school down for two days in order to adjust to the current circumstances we are now facing." Small murmurs around the audience appeared and dissipated, but the headmistress pushed on. "Furthermore, as you all know, magic is no longer a rare resource for us witches. It's now everywhere, and as I'm sure most of you have put together, we're on the dawn of a new age. Once retired witches will no doubt be popping up everywhere, and large advertising companies will no doubt attempt to capitalize on the reveal of a culture that many around the world were once unaware of." All of the staff on stage waved their wands, as a huge screen took up the empty air above their heads, and filled with charts in order to detail the headmistresses' words. "As you can see by these charts, social media, news resources, and big companies have all expressed their enthusiasm in witches and magic within the past forty-eight hours. This information has been debated over by our teachers and staff, and we have arrived at the following conclusion." The headmistress took a sip of water from a water bottle at her side, as if to drum up the anticipation more than it already had been. "We here at Luna Nova, in order to keep up with the times, and in order help make witches make a proper introduction into this new era, have decided to launch our first annual Magic Tournament!" Immediately, the audience of students went nuts.

" A m-magic tournament?" Lotte asked. "What do they mean by that?" Sucy seemed to share Lotte's confusion, but chose to express it with the same disgusted glare she used for Akko's wacky hijinks. Akko on the other hand, seemed to be over the moon.

"This will serve to solidify Luna Nova as part of this new era." The headmistress continued. "Events will be carried out, obviously, in the style of a tournament, where students participating will be eliminated as the rounds continue. Participation isn't mandatory, but it is recommended, as doing so will certainly not only net you praise from this new witch community we hope to cultivate, but also secure high marks from your classes as well. Every member of the staff will serve as the judges for the tournament. If you do well, you could receive high marks in a certain class, depending on the type of action you might be participating in, and if you mess up, you will not be marked down. In other words, you have nothing to lose, but everything to gain."

"Interesting!" Lotte chimed in. "That means I could raise my grade in Professor Finneran's class if I do well enough! Though, I'm not sure what kind of tournament event could center around her magic linguistics."

We will reveal the first round's event right now, so those who are interested, and from the looks of things that means quite a few of you, can prepare for the tournament in two weeks time." The headmistress scanned the room, and many giddy faces stared back. After a spin of her wand, the first round's name was projected on the screen floating above her. "Round one is titled: "Who You Are." It's a round where every participant, one at a time, will showcase who they are as individuals through their magic. There are no limits, as long as what you are doing doesn't endanger the audience. So please girls, show us what you've got!" As soon as the headmistress stepped down from the podium, the audience burst into one huge noise. Some were talking about how excited they were, some were still confused about the event, and some seemed entirely disinterested. Akko, Lotte, and Sucy were quiet. Little did anyone know, the three were mulling over what they would gain from participating in the magic tournament. Just as it seemed the students were about to be released from the assembly, the headmistress appeared back at the podium. "Sorry everyone, there's a few things I seemed to have left out!" A resounding sigh poured over the room. "I'd like to reinforce the fact that it doesn't matter what background any of you come from, and it doesn't matter how long any of you have been practicing magic. This tournament is designed so _any student_ in this room could win." The room went silent. Everyone seemed rather astounded from the headmistress' words. "Also, whoever _does_ win, will be the face of the academy. They will serve as the school's model student for the duration of the following week. She will attend a question and answer panel about life on the campus, and the perks of studying magic. In order to be as transparent as possible, this is done to, once again, take advantage of magic's new popularity. If you are still willing to participate in the magic tournament, then all you need to do is show up in the fields outside of the school two weeks from today. Thank you all for your time. Regular classes will resume tomorrow, so please, if you do plan on participating, plan your schedule around preparation."

 **.** **.** **.**

The lunchroom was buzzing with talk of Luna Nova's first magic tournament. The past two days had everyone in the student body acknowledge that magic was no longer rare, but this was the first sign that hit everyone hard. Magic was _back_! Along with it came a chance for _everyone_ to _shine_! Akko sat down with her fresh school lunch, and was instantly involved in the very popular topic.

"So, Akko, what do you think of all this?" Amanda asked, as she leaned back in her seat with her shoes on the table. "Do you think you're going to participate?" She barely had a chance to raise a carrot to her mouth from her tray before Akko's response caught the entire table's attention.

"ARE YOU KIDDING? I'M SUPER PUMPED FOR THIS!" Akko yelled back as she threw her tray down and twirled around three hundred and sixty degrees. "I was just wondering if I'd ever get a chance to distance myself from the shiny rod, and this is the perfect opportunity!"

"You're only thinking about making your own magic more distinct because I said it to your face." Sucy interjected as she ate a bit of charred broccoli with a grin on her face.

"Sucy! You're being too mean to Akko again!" Lotte said as she looked to her left, lining up her and Sucy's eyes.

"No, Sucy was right, Lotte!" Akko said as she put her hand out towards the two in a dramatic fashion. "This whole time, the shiny rod was my greatest way of casting spells, but by the time it disappeared a few days ago, it was my _only_ way of casting spells!"

"I gotta say Akko, you're taking this whole, idol's iconic item vanishing into the stars, thing very well." Amanda said as she tossed a grape in her mouth. Directly after that, Constanze, who was sitting to the right of Amanda, twirled her wand. Her tiny robot, Stanbot, spoke for her in a shrill robotic tone.

"Does Akko still like Shiny Chariot?" Stanbot chimed. Akko finally sat down in her seat, and picked up a fork.

"Constanze, I'll always cherish and respect the memories that Professor Ursula's Shiny Chariot persona left me. Without her, I wouldn't have ever been interested in magic. But her reign ended long ago. Personally, I think I love Professor Ursula even more as someone I can look up to." Akko answered as she made gestures with her fork.

"That's sweet!" Jasminka shouted from the right of Constanze as she munched a potato chip from her bag. "Respecting a teacher like Ursula is something you don't see a lot from those our age. Then again, I can see why, after everything you went through." Jasminka tossed a potato chip as a small sign of appreciation, and Akko caught it without hesitation. "Keep at it Akko, and you might become one of the stand out students here one day." Akko laughed at Jasminka comment.

"Thank you, Jasminka, but I haven't really done much on my own yet." Akko replied as she chomped the potato chip in a flash. "So, what do you think of the magic tournament, Sucy?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, I'm a little scared." Sucy responded as she looked down at her tray, rather glum.

"Huh? You scared, Sucy?" Amanda said as she removed her feet from the table and planted them firmly on the ground in an attempt to see this rare occurrence. Within a few seconds, everyone at the table was looking at Sucy.

"No, you guys misunderstand." Sucy clarified as she waved her hand in front of her face as her poker face returned. "Once my mom catches wind of this, there's no doubt she'll bring some of my family to watch."

"Your mom?" Akko asked, mouth half full of tomatoes and croutons.

"Yeah, my mom." Sucy answered. "She's the one who taught me everything I know

about witchery. I would never been interested in alchemical potion mixing if it wasn't for her. She tends to get pretty loud and annoying whenever I succeed at something." Lotte let out a friendly laugh, and attempted to clarify things for her friend.

"Sucy, that just means she's proud of you. My mom does the same thing! There's no need to be embarrassed!" Constanze twirled her wand, and Stanbot looked over in Sucy's direction.

"Why is Sucy embarrassed?" Stanbot asked as it cocked its head to the left. Sucy put down her fork and leaned back in her chair. She also crossed her arms as she tended to do when she was about to explain something.

"This is a little personal, but, well." Sucy was hesitating to get the words out. She looked away from her friends as she continued. "I'm actually not my mother's daughter." Everyone at the table stopped what they were doing as the mood shifted from playful explanation, to serious clarification. "My mother told me a few years ago that I was abandoned as a baby with nothing but a jar of poison. Apparently, that happens from time to time in the southern islands. At least where my mom was brought up. She took me in, and raised me as her own. When I was about seven, I saw her make her own potions for the first time. I asked her how she was doing what she was doing, and that came with her revealing our family legacy as witches. I thought she looked so cool when she was working with poison, which was weird since I hated poison due to being abandoned with it. I began to work with my mom more and more, and grew to love potions, and witchery. She said I had an innate talent, most likely because whoever abandoned me was also a witch. Whenever I succeeded it making a new potion, she would laugh and hug me to the point where it annoyed me. But I still love her despite that. I make my potions in the same way as my mom, I cast spells the same way, and we even have similar hairstyles. She means as much to me, as Ursula means to you, Akko." Akko flinched when she heard the comparison. "Anyway, whenever we went out in public together, I always thought that my admiration made me look too similar, so when I had a chance to attend Luna Nova, I thought it might be the perfect opportunity to express myself. Basically, when she shows up here in two weeks, I want to make it seem like I'm not some cheap imitation. But if I do too well, she'll make a scene." Sucy turned back towards her friends at the table, and put one arm down to rest her head on. She planted her chin on her palm, and let out a sigh. "My situation is too complicated for it's own good." The table was quiet for a moment, before Lotte spoke up once more.

"Sucy." She said as she put a hand on the conflicted girl's shoulder. "I'll say it again, she's just proud of you. Her loud praise means she's just proud of the progress you're making. I'm sure when she sees you participate in the tournament in two weeks, she'll see how far you've come and go through the same motions you described! But that's not a bad thing." Sucy looked down at her food.

"Yeah, I'm just a bit anxious."

"It happens to the best of us. But you're not alone, alright?" Jasminka said. Sucy looked over, right as Jasminka tossed her a jelly bean. Sucy caught it, and immediately realized that she had discarded her pack of chips, and had moved on to candy. Sucy looked at the Jelly bean Jasminka had tossed her. It was purple. She looked up at her friends, who were all smiling at her. Sucy leaned back in her chair and ate the candy bean. She closed her eyes and smiled as she digested the tiny clump of sugar. Right after that, Sucy got up from her seat, and decided to go back to her room she shared with Akko and Lotte.

"Excuse me, you guys. I'm going to go take a nap. Don't disturb me." Sucy dropped her tray off at the room's tray return and disappeared around the corner.

"Wow." Amanda said. "Has she always been that open?"

"No, not really." Akko answered.

"She's just a bit worn out right now." Lotte said. "But still, I didn't expect her to tell us her entire backstory." Stanbot suddenly interjected.

"She's most likely been meaning to share that for a while." Amanda looked down at Stanbot.

"Well, I can somewhat relate." Amanda said as she held a stick of celery above Stanbot's head.

"What do you mean, Amanda?" Akko asked.

"My dad's a corporate business head. My mom's side of the family is where all of the magic comes from, of course with the whole, witch thing and all." Amanda leaned back in her chair and put her feet back on the table. "Our family's specialty is fortune telling. He has this crappy system set up with some of my mom's sisters where the group predicts outcomes and chooses the best ways to make the company bigger."

"Really?" Akko asked as she bit into a pickled plum.

"Yeah, ever since I was a kid, I knew he was up to some slimy stuff. He sent me to this school so I could train, become a great witch, and help him with his shady business practices. That's why I tried dropping out awhile ago. But you, Akko, searching for the words with you helped me realize that this place isn't so bad!" Amanda pointed a carrot directly at Akko, then turned the stick around and ate it. She swallowed, then stood up from her seat. "If I win this tournament, I'll use that Q&A to express my distaste for his ways! Not a bad plan, right?" The table was quiet, all eyes were on Amanda's ecstatic demeanor. "Well, I think it's a good plan, anyway. I think I'll hit the hay too. See you guys later!" The sporty witch walked away from the table, leaving only Lotte, Akko, Constanze, and Jasminka in the conversation.

"Akko, are you alright?" Jasminka asked, holding out a cheese curl from her freshly opened bag.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine." Akko responded as she took the snack. "I was just thinking about how magic can be used for sinister purposes as well. Before, I guess I always thought of it as this source of energy that could only be used for good. But Croix and Amanda's dad have proved me wrong, I guess."

"Don't feel down, Akko!" Lotte chimed in. "It's not like you did any of those things!"

"I know Lotte, but I guess I feel kind of dumb for being ignorant to the concept until recently." Akko looked down at her empty plate. Now all that was left on its surface was Jasminka gift of a cheese curl.

"We all have own reasons for witchery." Stanbot chirped. "Doesn't change fact that we all respect each other, right?" Stanbot and Constanze looked at Akko waiting for her answer.

"That's right, Constanze. Sucy wants to prove her independence to her mom, and Amanda want to show her dad he's using magic the wrong way. Lotte, you want to support your family's store, right?" Akko looked over at Lotte, who flinched at the on the spot questioning.

"Huh? Oh, yes, Akko. I do want to support my family and our store. Though, I predict it will do better now that magic has returned to the world and more witches will come out of hiding." Akko nodded and turned to Constanze and Jasminka.

"What about you two?" She asked. The two turned to each other, and looked back at Akko.

"Rather not say." Stanbot said. "Not as brave as Sucy and Amanda."

"That's fine, especially if you don't want to tell us for personal reasons. I respect that." Akko turned to Lotte, and smiled. "I'm going to go see if I can find Professor Ursula. I have a few things I want to ask her about."

"Alright, see you later, Akko!" Lotte said as Akko stood up from the table.

"See you guys later!" Akko responded as she walked to the tray return. Once she had placed her tray with the rest of the dirty plates, she disappeared around the corner. Back at the table, Lotte, Constanze, and Jasminka watched Akko walk away.

"Looks like Akko's lost in thought about her motivations too." Lotte inquired.

"Most likely." Stanbot chimed.

"Yes." Jasminka added.

 **.** **.** **.**

"Huh? A magic book to study by yourself?" Professor Ursula put her books down on her desk, along with a pile of folders. "Alcor, please file these away for me while I talk to Akko." The familiar screeched, and picked up a single folder in its talons to start the job.

"Um, Professor Ursula?" Akko asked, standing in the middle of Ursula's room, which at the moment, was filled to the brim with books, papers, folders, and knick knacks. "Why is your room such a mess?" Ursula herself was stationed several feet in front of Akko beside her trusty desk. The piles of information told Akko that she better not get close, or else risk causing the stacks of paper to spill onto the ground. The last thing she wanted was to add to her favorite teacher's mess, and not have a levitation spell to help clean it up on top of that.

"Oh! I have to organize student information into a pre and post new magic era pile. I also have to dig out and update Luna Nova's policies on holding big events like the magic tournament to fit our current standards. Since I'm the newest and youngest teacher here, I have the most free time. So, this job was dumped on me."

"I'm sorry."

You have no need to apologize. Anyway, what brought this on, Akko? Didn't you want to continue tutoring sessions from me every morning?" Professor Ursula asked as she turned to face Akko from her current spot in the room holding two dictionaries.

"Yes, I do want to continue tutoring with you, Professor, but…" Akko hesitated to finish her thoughts. Her hands looked lifeless as they hung by her side, and her head was focused on the floor once more.

"Come on Akko, you can tell me, I won't tell anyone else." Ursula said warmly. She walked closer to her pupil in an attempt to make her feel more comfortable with finishing her sentence.

"Well, with the magic tournament in two weeks, everyone's going to be entering to improve their grades, but they're also going to enter for things greater than themselves."

"Greater than themselves?" Ursula realized that Akko didn't look took comfortable with the topic, due to the deep breaths she was taking in an attempt to remain calm. She wasn't used to acting this serious in front of her mentor, and with everything she had been told today, she was feeling very inconsequential.

"I guess I'm just… tired of my own ignorance." Akko felt a hot wash pour over her after revealing her current feelings toward her personal progress as a student, and a witch. Ursula stoically looked down at Akko, then turned and walked back towards her pile of books. She returned a few seconds later and shoved a book titled 'Witchery and Fear: Remarks on the Hardships (and accomplishments) of Magic.' in her face

"Huh?" Akko asked. "What's this?"

"Well, it's a present, for you!" Akko took the book in her hands.

"A present for me?" She said calm and quietly.

"Yes. I read the same book when I wanted to expand my magical horizons." Ursula blushed a bit and scratched her cheek. "To tell the truth, I'm not sure how much this will help, but if you've hit a brick wall on magic in general, I'd recommend giving this a read."

"You would give this to me?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Ursula put her hands on her hips, and puffed out her chest. "You're my pupil, so, I have to work hard to make sure you're prepared for this new age of magic!" Akko laughed a genuine laugh, and smiled.

"Thanks Professor Ursula! I won't let you down!" Akko ran off, seemingly in a better mood than when she arrived. Right when Ursula was about to get back to organization, she smiled when she remembered what the headmistress said.

"You were right, headmistress Holbrooke."

 **NOTE: Continued in Chapter 3.**


	3. PART I- Two Weeks of Preparation (Act I)

**NOTE: This chapter ended up being longer than I anticipated. So I split it up into two chapters. Hopefully this will be the only time I do this, but with all of the ideas I have for this story, we'll have to wait and see if I can follow up on that.**

Chapter 3-Two Weeks of Preparation (Act I)

Later that same day, Akko was barely able to reserve a quiet study room for herself in Luna Nova's library. Usually, there were fifteen of these rooms stemming off from the library's main area, and six rooms were used at max due to the school's ever shrinking student body. Before, it was common that those who were motivated, but weren't as proficient in magic as others reserved the rooms in order to cram before exams or midterms. However, now there was an incentive for everyone to study as much as possible. Although the headmistress had said that everyone had a clear shot at winning, the same could be said for being a grade-A student at the school as well. If one didn't know what she was doing, she wasn't going to get very far. Some students only reserved the rooms for a day in order to refresh themselves on basic material. Some reserved the rooms for three days in order to give themselves a crash course on everything from the semester thus far. Akko on the other hand, reserved her room for the entire two weeks leading up to the tournament.

The room consisted of a long table stretching horizontally from the main entrance, chairs neatly placed around said table, with a blackboard and chalk on the wall to the right. Akko sat down in one of the chairs, and dumped her notes and books on the table. The first thing on her to do list was to review everything from this semester. After all, if she didn't know what she was doing, how was she going to perfect her magic for "Who You Are"? She walked over to the blackboard, and picked up a thin stick of chalk. Then she began writing her plan for studying every evening after classes in the room for two weeks. The first four days would be committed to reviewing everything. The next ten days would all be used for perfecting her "Who You Are" presentation.

"Alright, the first thing to do is study everything from every class." Akko muttered to herself. She sat back down in her seat and crossed her arms while looking over at her notes. "My classes end at 7:00 PM, and I don't want to stay up too late into the night. Otherwise, I'll do poorly in Professor Finneran's class every morning for two weeks. Maybe four hours would be enough?" The girl leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling. There, something caught her off guard. One of the tiles on the ceiling was slightly cocked out of line with the rest. "Huh? When did that happen?" Akko stood on her chair, and was just able to slide the tile back into place with the very tips of her fingers. She sat back down, and picked up her Magical Linguistics notes. Right before she started reading, she looked back up at the ceiling tile. "I guess it's to be expected when the staff said this is the oldest private study room in Luna Nova." She thought to herself.

 **.** **.** **.**

Three days later, Akko was standing in line waiting for lunch. Her head bobbed up and down as she struggled to stay awake.

"Akko!" Lotte yelled in order to snap her friend out of her stupor. "Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine." Akko muttured in an attempt to convince her friend that she wasn't sleep deprived. Sucy, who was standing along with the two, wasn't buying Akko's answer, and pulled a small mushroom out of her pocket. She quickly stuck it up Akko's nose in order to rejuvenate the nearly unconscious girl. The sensation of having a mushroom shoved inside her left nostril caused Akko to open her eyes. She was conscious of the fact that she was standing in a lunch line, but her posture said otherwise. Akko was slumped against a wall in order to keep herself from falling, and her head was facing the ground. Her legs were trembling, as if they wanted to curl up in a comfy blanket and not move for the rest of time, and her neck felt as if it would cry in pain if it had a mouth to do so. The sleepy girl rubbed her eyes, and slapped her cheeks twice.

"Yo, morning." Sucy said jokingly. When Akko turned to look at Sucy, she realized something was sticking out of her nose, tickling it in the process.

"Oh, gross! Is this one of your mushrooms, Sucy? Why do this to me when I'm about to eat?" Akko asked in a grumpy manner. Lotte reached forward, and stood Akko in a more presentable manner.

"Akko, people are staring at you!" Lotte said. "Stand up straight, and look more awake! You're about to get lunch." Akko stood upright, and yawned as she walked to the stack of trays sitting next to today's special. She collected her lunch from the food available and sat her tray down at her usual table. After blowing the mushroom Sucy stuck up her nose into one of her napkins intended for use after her meal, she threw it into the trash and walked back to her friends.

"Hey, did I faint while standing in the lunch line just now?" Akko asked curiously.

"Yeah.. you did. It looked pretty sad." Lotte responded.

"Sad? How did that look sad?"

"'How', nothing!" Amanda interjected. "This is the worst we've ever seen you!" Right after Amanda spoke, Constanze's stanbot transformed into a small mirror. Constanze handed it to Akko so she would get a look at herself. The tired girl realized she had huge bags under her eyes, and her hair wasn't in the best shape either.

"Oops." Akko remarked. "I guess I _do_ look pretty bad.

"How embarrassing!" Sucy chuckled as she slurped down a spoonful of soup.

"Is your presentation for "Who You Are" coming along though?" Jasminka asked as she opened a small box of chocolates.

"Well, I haven't really started working on that yet. But, I was able to finish reviewing everything from this semester in two days!" Akko celebrated as she held up a peace sign with her hand. The rest of the table looked unamused. After a bit of awkward silence, Akko realized that not one of her friends was excited about her progress. "What?"

"Akko, how much sleep have you gotten in these past two days?" Lotte asked.

"Um.. maybe five hours?" Akko answered shyly while turning her head away from the table in anticipation of her friends' response. The big reaction that she expected however, never came. After waiting for a second or two, Akko looked back at her friends. She was greeted with concerned faces from all of them.

"Seriously?" Amanda asked. "Five hours over two days?" Akko hesitated to respond.

"Y-yeah, is that bad?" Akko asked. Amanda burst out of her chair.

"Hell yeah that's bad!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "You're basically killing yourself!" As soon as Amanda began to yell, Constanze's Stanbot made wild gestures as well.

"Akko could work herself to death if she keeps up with bad schedule!" Akko herself had a small freak out at this realization.

"Work myself to death?"

"Even an idiot like you should have realized that!" Sucy said.

"But Sucy, you work late making potions!" Akko retorted.

"Yeah? Well I make sure I get the hours of sleep I need so I don't lose my mind! You're completely hopeless, aren't you?"

"I'm not hopeless!" After Akko said that, Jasminka threw a small chocolate wrapper at her. "Hey, Jasminka! That's not very nice-" Right as she finished her sentence, Akko looked over to see Jasminka tearing up.

"Not very nice?" Jasminka asked. Her voice was shaky, obviously trying to hold back tears. "What do you want me to do? _Let_ you do this to yourself without it dawning on you what your repercussions are?" This was the most anyone had seen Jasminka snap at someone. The whole table stopped and stared at the sniffling girl, unable to come up with words to console her. "Don't do this to yourself, Akko." she whimpered. Constanze took to patting Jasminka on the back. Akko's face turned red with embarrassment. She looked down at Jasminka's crumbled up chocolate wrapper, then back at the teary eyed girl.

"Akko, we're just worried about you." Lotte said, looking very concerned. When she heard that and looked around the table again, Akko felt a pit in her stomach.

"I'm….sorry guys." Akko said quietly. The rest of lunch had a very awkward feeling in the air around their table. As they all went about their day, the group of friends hoped that tomorrow wouldn't be the same.

 **.** **.** **.**

It had been one week since headmistress Holbrooke announced Luna Nova's magic tournament, and Akko had barely made any progress on what she would present during the first round. She awoke early, but didn't move from her bed immediately. Instead, she took to looking at the bottom of Lotte's bed, which was all she could see immediately upwards from her bottom bunk. It was peaceful. There were tiny birds perched right outside their window, and from their room, it seemed the world was at peace.

All Akko could think about were her friends. She looked over at Sucy, and words about wanting to make her mother proud by proving her independence echoed in her mind. This also made her think about Amanda's speech she gave about wanting to expose her father's business practices in front of everyone to show him that he was using magic to benefit no one but himself. Akko's eyebrows furrowed a bit, yet she was still smiling. She looked up at the bottom of Lotte's bunk, and thought about last night. When she accidentally arrived late from her private study room last night, Akko found a typed letter written on Lotte's "sphere thing" (as she called it) to her parents. The letter had comforting words to her parents. Apparently, multiple, bigger, magic stores were being planned to open up in the few days after the reveal of witches to the mainstream, meaning more competition. The letter ended with Lotte promising her parents that she would win the tournament in order to spread the word about their humble little store. As far as Akko knew, she was the only one other than Lotte who had read that letter. After discovering it, Akko quickly realized that Lotte must have forgotten to send the message, but her curiosity overruled her good conscience. When she finished reading, she scrolled back to the top in order to make it appear as though she went straight to bed. Completely unaware of this situation, Akko was starting to feel a little inconsequential again. Especially when after thinking about Lotte's letter, she remembered how concerned her friends were for her well being.

She felt moronic for staying up late again last night. She had been attempting to cut back on the number of hours she was working on her "Who You Are" presentation. However, she couldn't figure out what to do. She had an idea, but wasn't sure how to execute it. She sighed, and sat up in her bed, scraped the crust out of her eyes, then got out of bed proper. She got dressed, and decided to walk around a bit before going to meet Professor Ursula.

 **.** **.** **.**

Akko walked for a good ten minutes, but ended up sitting on the steps facing Luna Nova's main gates. She let out another sigh.

"I wish I hadn't messed up my sleep schedule. Now I can't sleep when I want to." she remarked sadly. She then looked up at the sky, wearing the same furrowed brow she had been for a while now.

"I've only just learned how to fly. Here I thought more spells would just open up to me. But I haven't changed much." she thought to herself. "What's wrong with me?" Suddenly, Akko spotted a tiny object in the sky. After seeing it was fly towards the school for a few seconds, she realized it was her friend, Diana Cavendish! She stood up and started waving.

"HEY! DIANA! DOWN HERE!" Akko yelled in order to get her friend's attention. Diana spotted Akko, and flew down towards her.

"You fool." Diana remarked. "I wanted to fly back in the morning when I had enough energy, but I also didn't want to wake anyone up. Thanks to you, my plan is shot."

"Oh! Was I that loud? Sorry." Akko apologized.

"Huh? Wrong with you? You're a mess!"

"I should ask what happened to you! Where did you disappear to after the headmistress announced the magic tournament?"

"My aunt was informed of the event, and called me home to have a discussion."

"A discussion? This took several days?" Several seconds passed before Diana followed up on Akko's question.

"Don't tell anyone, but My aunt and I realized that this event is the perfect opportunity to reclaim the glory of the Cavendish household."

"Oh! That's good, right?"

"Yes, I suppose it is. But when I expressed interest in participating in the tournament, the entire house burst into an argument over whether me participating in the event would put too much stress on me."

"Too much stress?"

"Yes, everyone doesn't want me to feel like the house's name is on my shoulders alone. I reassured them it didn't but it took several days to convince them." Diana looked away from Akko when she explained her situation. Akko realized that Diana must not have been comfortable with explaining the situation.

"Wow, sorry you had to go through that."

"It's fine, thank you. Though, I'd like to clarify that I do intend to put on a good show for everyone back home."

"That's nice to hear!"

"You on the other hand, Akko, look pretty bad."

"Do I have bags under my eyes?"

"Pretty big ones, yeah. You don't have to tell me anything. You're probably really stressed out about the magic tournament. A lot of our peers no doubt are as well." Silence filled the air for a minute.

"Yeah, I've been staying up as long as I can in order to get ready."

"Well, don't stay up too much. You'll kill yourself."

"Everyone keeps saying that." Akko attempted to laugh in order to deflate the tension in the conversation. Diana wasn't having it. When she realized this, Akko looked down at the ground again.

"Akko." Diana said in a commanding voice. "I'm serious about this. Get some more sleep. Don't forget that this event is just for the school's publicity in order to give witches a good name at the start of this new age." Diana started to walk away, but was stopped seconds later.

"Diana?" Akko asked. "What do you think of this magic tournament?" Diana turned around, and stared at Akko with her trademark stiff posture.

"I think it's a pretty dumb idea."

"Really?"

"Yes. I think a tournament is a cheap way to excite the general public in order to make witches look exciting. I only intend to participate to turn things around for my family name."

"Oh, alright." Akko hung her head low yet again. Diana turned away from Akko as if she was about to continue walking away.

"However, I understand why you're stressing out the way you are." Akko's head perked up in an energetic, yet tired motion. Diana remained facing away from Akko. "Just don't forget that you have friends to fall back on when you're in a pinch." Akko looked back down at the ground, and a few tears fell from her eyes. She could feel a small lump grow in her throat.

"Thank you, Diana." Akko barely whimpered out. Diana continued to walk away, no doubt wanting to take a quick power nap before classes started. Akko's head remained low. She wiped away her tears, and looked upwards. "I'm so stupid!" She thought. "I've been trying to get ready for this tournament by myself, but I've been ignoring my friends. They probably have been willing to help me out this entire time. I was just too blind to see that." Akko's fists tightened with determination, while fresh new tears ran down her face. "I'm not going to be helpless anymore! This tournament will mark a new start for me! Not just as a witch, or a student, but a person as well!"

 **NOTE: Continued in Chapter 4:** **Two Weeks of Preparation (Act II)**


	4. PART I-Two Weeks of Preparation (Act II)

Chapter 4- Two Weeks of Preparation (Act II)

"Alright Akko!" Professor Ursula shouted as she clicked the button on top of her stopwatch. "That should be enough levitation magic practice today!" The professor looked at her pupil, who was surrounded with puzzle pieces. Today's lesson was to rearrange ten one-hundred piece puzzles. Before having Akko attempt the reconstruction, she instead broke apart every puzzle, and threw all of the pieces into one pile. Akko's job was to rearrange the pieces of every puzzle into separate piles. She had done so six times, each time getting faster.

"What was my time professor?" Akko asked as she wiped sweat beads from her head.

"32:40!" Ursula responded. "That's great!"

"Thanks." Akko held her hands out in front of her, and clenched both in order to pump herself up. "I might actually be getting better!" She whispered to herself. The excited girl however, didn't realize that Ursula was directly behind her, and had heard everything she said.

"What do you mean 'might?'" Akko jumped and spun around quickly when she realized that her favorite professor had heard something she intended to keep to herself.

"W-well...um.." The girl tried to form a coherent sentence out of her private thoughts, but was stopped almost immediately.

"Th-that's alright, Akko! I didn't mean to listen in!" Ursula was almost as bumbling with delivering her sentence as her pupil. But unlike Akko, she was actually able to finish her thoughts. "Um.. I do have something I'd like to ask you, though."

"Huh? What is it Professor?" Akko was curious as to what Ursula could want. She immediately jumped to the conclusion of a lecture asking her not to overwork herself.

"Why do you want to participate in the magic tournament?" Akko flinched when this question was asked. Not wanting to make it seem like she was the same person she was when she arrived on day one, she picked her next words carefully.

"I..want to be a splendid witch."

"But, you can become a splendid witch without participating in the tournament." Ursula could see that her pupil was trying to avoid eye contact, so she decided to be a bit more direct. "Akko, look at me." Ursula said with a serious edge. Akko looked back up at Ursula. "Why do you want to participate in the magic tournament?" She looked right into Ursula's eyes. Silence filled the air for a few seconds.

"Because…" Akko hesitated to finalize her answer in her head. She then looked down to the ground. "Because...I want to show everyone that I can be a great witch without using the Shiny Rod." While the answer didn't necessarily shock Ursula, she could see how much this thought pestered Akko. Ursula put a hand on Akko's shoulder.

"Akko, thank you for wanting to show everyone how far you've come. You're clearly working hard. I'm lucky to have a pupil as determined as you." Akko could feel her eyes starting to tear up again. "Please, never think that your identity is tied to fixing the mistakes from my past." Ursula looked towards the sky. "Our business with the Shiny Rod has ended. It wouldn't want us still troubling ourselves with it. I'm grateful to you for so many things. Thanks to you, I don't have to live without my own identity. Though, strangely I've grown more accustomed to 'Ursula.' That's something I'll work out on my own. Anyway, I just wanted to say, your determination has no doubt greatly affected many people, and the time has come for you to decide if that's a good or bad thing." Ursula turned her head back towards her pupil. "So, please, when you participate in this tournament, don't do it because you feel like you have to, do it because you want to." Ursula's words were sending Akko all kinds of messages, and Akko didn't know how to respond.

"Thank you, Professor." Akko said as she rubbed the tears out of her eyes.

"Classes are going to start soon, so I think we should skip connecting all of the puzzles with reconstruction magic for today. You should get to class."

"Right!" Akko started to run towards the school building, but a thought crossed her mind that made her stop dead in her tracks. She quickly turned around. "Professor Ursula?" She yelled. Ursula turned back toward Akko, wand in hand. She was starting to use reconstruction magic to collect the puzzle pieces that were scattered all over the yard.

"Yes, what is it?"

"What do you think of the magic tournament?"

"Me?" Ursula hesitated before letting out a sigh and giving a straight answer. "I'm not the biggest fan of the decision. In fact, I was the only one of Luna Nova's staff to object to it."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. So, please, remember to have fun with it! But please don't forget about what I said just now! You can become a splendid witch even without the tournament!" As soon as Ursula's words hit her, Akko started grinning ear to ear.

"Ok, professor!" Akko turned around again, and walked away with a bit more confidence.

 **.** **.** **.**

Later that day, everyone, now including Diana, were engaged in a conversation during lunch about their progress on what each of them would present for "Who You Are." The entire student body had been hard at work for the past week, and everyone was getting more and more eager for the day of the magic tournament a week from now.

"I've been preparing something completely different from my usual magic, but it's something that I think would define me as a person!" Lotte shared enthusiastically. Diana ate a bit of lettuce from her salad. She leaned forwards, maintaining her nice posture, smiling in the process.

"That sounds wonderful, Lotte!" Diana said.

"Hey, Diana." Amanda said, while leaning back in her chair. "Where did you go for a week?"

"Oh, well, um.." Diana stammered to respond immediately. She didn't want to trouble more of her friends with worrying about her family arguing over her participation in the tournament than necessary.

"It's personal, right?" Constanze's Stanbot chimed in and cocked its head to the right in the middle of Diana's bumbling explanation.

"That's fine Diana." Jasminka said. "You don't have to share what you've been doing if you're not comfortable with it." The hungry girl obviously could relate with not wanting to reveal information that felt too personal. She offered Diana a potato chip. Diana took Jasminka's gift, even though she didn't have any intention on eating it due to potato chips being too salty for her liking. "How about your 'Who You Are' presentation? Have you had time to prepare anything?"

"Yes, I've had time to whip something up. Though, it _was_ in a rush." Akko looked over, seemingly dazzled by Diana's ability to come up with a presentation she felt confident in, with such a short amount of time to work with. She started eating furiously.

"I'm definitely going to be at her level one day!" Akko thought while trying to devour double chocolate and white chip macadamia cookies.

"Akko? Are you ok?" Diana asked.

"Huh?" Akko put the half eaten cookies down on her tray, and looked over at Diana. "Oh, sorry, I guess I'm trying to pump myself up!" She let out a fake laugh again before she was abruptly stopped.

"Being pumped up is fine, just make sure you get yourself enough sleep." Akko could feel the sweat beads running down her head.

"Right…"

"Diana, I have a quick question, if that's alright?" Lotte asked. Diana turned her head to face Lotte.

"What is it, Lotte? Shoot."

"Lotte was wondering where Hannah and Barbara have gone off to so she can get her _Nightfall_ volume back." Sucy interrupted with a small grin on her face.

"Th-that's not true, Sucy! I'm legitimately curious about where they've been outside of class recently!" Lotte was flustered, as she didn't want to come off as someone who's as selfish as to put her own personal items over the whereabouts of her new friends. After a few seconds, Lotte continued, a little quieter than before, but still flustered, nonetheless. "It's just that, you share a room with the two of them, and I've only ever spotted the two in our classes. But they vanish after that and I can never find them." Lotte grew even quieter. "Also, yes, Barbara has my _Nightfall_ volume I lent her, and I'd like to see if I can have it back." The flustered girl was basically whispering at this point. "There's a new volume coming out soon, and I'd like to review the events leading up to recently before the Space Arc ends."

"There's no need to be embarrassed, Lotte!" Amanda said as she started laughing. "Barbara's just as nerdy about this series as you are! I'm sure she'll understand!"

"You want me to get the _Nightfall_ volume for you?" Akko asked while pointing her fork at Lotte.

"That would be nice of you. Thanks Akko. I guess I'd feel too greedy if I asked her myself."

"You're not greedy Lotte!" Diana added. Akko was about to walk away from the table, but she stopped herself just before doing so.

"Oh, guys? I have something to ask of all of you." Akko put her hands together, feeling a little embarrassed for not having asked her question earlier. "Could you guys...um...give me some tips for finalizing my 'Who You Are' presentation? She was looking at the ground yet again, not knowing how her friends were going to react.

"Finally." Stanbot chirped.

"I know, right? I thought she'd never ask." Amanda added.

"You'd think that Akko would solve world hunger before asking her friends for help preparing for this tournament." Sucy said. Akko looked back up quickly, with one eyebrow furrowed, and one stuck up.

"Huh?" Akko wondered. "I thought you'd all give me a much harder time!"

"Akko, don't be stupid." Diana remarked. "We're your friends, so of course we're willing to help you out. You're stressed out, but so is everyone else!" Diana leaned back in her chair and sipped a bit of water from the glass she had sitting next to her salad. "We're always here for you. Never forget that." Akko chuckled a bit at what a fool she had been ever since the magic tournament had been announced.

"Right. I'm so stupid. Sorry everyone." Akko said while trying to maintain eye contact with all of her friends. She then dropped her empty tray off at the tray return, and disappeared around the corner.

"She's looking a bit better than she did earlier this week." Amanda said.

"Yeah, just a bit though." Jasminka agreed. Diana turned her head towards Jasminka, intrigued by her comment.

"What do you mean 'better than earlier this week?'" Diana asked. Sucy leaned forwards with a small roll of bread in her hands, her eating of the wheat interrupted by her sudden urge to answer Diana's question.

"She was running on only five hours of sleep about four or five days ago." Sucy interjected. Diana's eyes widened.

"Is that right?" Diana asked.

"Yes." Stanbot answered.

"She seemed to be dealing with preparations in her own way until today." Lotte said. Diana turned towards Lotte.

"Why didn't you girls help her? She's clearly wasting away!" Diana questioned harshly. Amanda leaned further back in her chair, and slammed her feet on the table in order to get Diana's attention.

"Why didn't we help her?" Amanda said with a bit of rudeness in her voice. "This tournament may be one that's main reason for existing is publicity in this new age of magic, but to some of us, that's really important." She leaned her head back, and looked towards the ceiling. "For some of us, our very identities are on the line. Put yourself in Akko's shoes for just a second. She's been told time and time again that she would never make it at this school. Even some of us sitting here have thought it." Amanda put her hand up by her side, pointing towards the ceiling. "But then, she went and ushered in a new era of magic, and unlike us, she also just lost her most valuable source of casting magic, the Shiny Rod." Amanda put both hands behind her head. "It sounds like a pretty stressful situation, really. She probably feels that her entire identity in the eyes of this new era is at stake. So, as dumb as it sounds, we didn't want to be pushy."

"You didn't want, to be 'pushy?'" Diana asked, desperately trying to make sense of Amanda's words.

"You're gonna make me come out and say it?" Amanda said a bit louder than before. "We're scared, alright? We're just like her! We didn't know how to approach Akko about her troubles, because we wouldn't know how to console her!" Everyone except Diana were suddenly dressed in a thick coat of guilt, the troubled expressions on their faces being key indicators to their current mental states. "Maybe it's because we helped you and Akko take care of Professor Croix's missile, maybe it isn't. My point is, acting high and mighty, like we were waiting for Akko to ask us for help was all we felt comfortable with. Don't get me wrong, we _were_ all waiting for her to ask us for help, but this tournament has us all walking on eggshells in our own ways."

"Sounds pretty incomprehensible to me." Diana said. Amanda sat up in her chair properly, and leaned forwards in Diana's direction, armed with a scowl on her face.

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Amanda asked.

"All I'm saying, is that friends are supposed to help friends. Your actions confuse me."

"What did you want me to do, princess? Skip alongside her and sprinkle rose petals in her path?!"

"No need for the exaggerations. Your lack of support for someone you care about baffles me." Lotte leaned back and put her hands up in front of her body, as if she was bracing for some sort of impact. Sucy put her hand over her face, trying to hide a smile that formed from that strange part of her that liked watching people fight, though she was equally as shocked as everyone else. Constanze raised her eyebrows and grabbed her stanbot from the table, ready to protect it in case things got hairy. Jasminka stopped eating and leaned back from the table. Amanda was about to yell, but she looked around, and noticed other tables were looking their way. Then she looked back at Diana, who was glaring them down, while maintaining her nice posture. Amanda quickly realized that this situation made her look like she was bullying Diana for no reason. Yelling would only make her look worse, not to mention make the conversation more awkward than it already was. She looked down at the table as sweat beads rolled off the end of her chin, and pretended to cough in order to make it seem like she was suddenly composed. She then stood up from the table.

"Look, all I'm saying is, you shouldn't put yourself above others because you aren't struggling as much as them." Amanda took her tray and walked away.

"But I'm not-" Diana barely managed to get out any semblance of a response before Amanda stormed off. She watched Amanda disappear around the corner, then scoffed. She then remembered that she was supposed to be sitting at lunch having a pleasant conversation, but had failed on accomplishing that. As she scanned all of her friend's faces, Diana felt a hot wash of embarrassment pour over her. "I'm so sorry everyone. I have no explanation for my words other than the fact that I've been very stressed out lately. Please forgive what I said." She lowered her head slightly as a quick sign of forgiveness in case other students were still watching the scene. "I'm going to go to the library so I can review for my Magical Numerology quiz." She waited for a response from the table, but nothing came. The conversation had become too awkward for any of them to continue in Diana's presence, and she became aware of that. Diana looked down at the table again. "Please tell Amanda that I'm sorry." Guilt was clearly eating away at her from how her voice softened at a breakneck pace. "Excuse me." Diana speed walked away from the table, and placed her tray with the others at the tray return. Before anyone knew it, she was gone.

"I guess Diana was right." Lotte said. "We should have asked if Akko needed help as soon as possible." Lotte lowered her head slightly.

"But Amanda was right, too. None of us knew what to say to her. We didn't want to make it seem like we didn't believe she could do it without help." Jasminka added, along with a slight chuckle. "All we could say was 'Get more sleep! Get more sleep!'"

"Akko needed sleep." Stanbot said. "It was the most helpful advice we could give." Silence overtook the table as the everyone couldn't think of what to say. But it was suddenly broken by Sucy, who said what was on all of their minds.

"This magic tournament couldn't be over with sooner."

"No kidding." Lotte agreed.

 **.** **.** **.**

Akko knocked on the door to Diana's room. It felt strange to her. The last time she was there that immediately popped into her head, was the time she pretended to be Diana after a mirror made her look like her a while back.

"Interesting." Akko muttered to herself. "Something so hectic at the time is now small potatoes compared to what's happening now." She was so caught up in her thoughts, Akko hadn't realized the door had opened. She looked up quickly once she realized she was staring at a pair of feet.

"What was that, Akko?" Barbara asked, trying to figure out what the girl was saying.

"Oh! My bad! I didn't mean to say that out loud! It was nothing!" She lightly knocked herself on the head before letting out a fake laugh to make her slip of the tongue look intentional.

"You don't need the theatrics, Akko, we know how you feel." Hannah said.

"Huh?" Akko asked. These were words she never would have thought Hannah would say only a little while ago. But at the same time, she noticed the mess of books and notes that blanketed the room. Hannah was seated in the middle of the mess of information, and the clearing of paper beside her seemed to be where Barbara was sitting before Akko answered the door.

"We've heard about how you're pouring your heart out trying to prepare for the magic tournament." Hannah said as she pointed her pen at the confused girl. "You reserved that old library private study room for two weeks, right?"

"Y-yeah, I did. Why do you ask?"

"That's dedication we can appreciate!" Hannah said. Akko blushed at Hannah and Barbara's words of praise. At the same time, she didn't know what to say to them.

"Akko, we've had something we've wanted to tell you for several days now." Hannah said.

"We've just been too busy to tell you." Barbera added. Akko hesitated before asking what it was the two had been meaning to ask her.

"What is it?" Akko asked. They faced Akko at the same time, as if they had rehearsed what they were going to say.

"Thank you for this new age of magic!" Hannah and Barbara said simultaneously. Akko was baffled by the response from the two that bullied her until recently.

"You're...thanking me? For the new age of magic?" Akko asked.

"You've opened up an opportunity for witches to redefine themselves in society!" Hannah said.

"That action alone has helped a lot of us in this school!" Barbara added. Akko was about to accept their praise, but then remembered Lotte's letter she accidentally left on her desk detailing the competition that would soon arrive near her parent's magic shop.

"I appreciate the thanks, but, some people might be inconvenienced by magic not being rare anymore, too. So, I don't know if I can accept your kind words." Hannah and Barbara looked at each other, and laughed the same hearty laugh they shared when they used to pick on Akko for being flightless.

"You might have done something great, but that doesn't change the fact that you're still an idiot!" Hannah said through her chuckles. Akko was more confused than before.

"Akko, if someone's inconvenienced by magic being revived, that's not your fault!" Barbara said. Suddenly, sounds of footsteps could be heard from behind Akko, who realized moments later that she was still standing in the doorway.

"They're saying you shouldn't carry around other people's misdeeds, because you didn't set out to cause misfortune." Akko turned one hundred eighty degrees before she realized that the mystery voice belonged to Avery, another one of her peers. She was carrying another stack of books to add to their ever growing collection of study materials.

"Huh?" Avery's name didn't come back to Akko immediately. She ended up stammering for an instant before she was stopped.

"That's alright. Clearly, you don't remember my name." The purple haired girl inched past Akko and set the stack of books she was carrying down on the floor in front of Hannah. She then turned around to face Akko in order to talk to her directly. "My name's Avery."

"Avery? Oh! That's right!" Akko was a little embarrassed that she didn't remember Avery's name immediately. Most likely because she was chronicled in her memory as 'the girl that made fun of her the day she arrived at Luna Nova.'

"The three of us have been studying in Diana's room since you snagged the last private study room in the library. But, seeing as you're not from a witch family, you probably needed it more."

"Now that Diana's back, we're going to have to organize this quickly inbetween today's classes. Do you need anything from us in particular?" Barbara asked.

"Oh! That's right! I came to get the _Nightfall_ volume you borrowed from Lotte!"

" _Nightfall?_ Oh, I finished that volume about a day ago. I've just been too busy to return it. Barbara rummaged through several folders on the floor and discovered Lotte's book resting underneath.

"Here it is!" Akko took the book from Barbara's hands and thanked her. She turned around and began heading back to the lunchroom.

"Akko!" Avery called. Akko poked her head through the open doorway when she realized her name was shouted in her direction, but then stood in the doorway proper so she didn't seem like she was being disrespectful. There, Avery, Hannah, and Barbara seemed to be glaring at her, bodies facing in her direction. "I just wanted to say, don't count us out of the magic tournament just because you and your friends stopped that missile! We're going to try our very hardest to prove we're better than you!" As soon as she heard that, Akko felt a bubbly excitement she hadn't felt in a while. It was an emotion that was caused from a challenge being issued her way. It was something she realized she couldn't wait to face. Something she wanted to do because _she_ wanted to do it. After a lot of self-doubt and self-blame, the feeling was refreshing. A grin spread across Akko's face.

"Counting you out? Wasn't planning on it!" The girl then scurried down the hall in order to give Lotte her book back as soon as possible. Not even realizing she left the door open.

 **.** **.** **.**

That evening, Akko arrived back at her private study room in the library. Only this time, she was really running on fumes. In her right hand, she carried three pages worth of tips from her friends. In her left arm, she carried her pillow. Akko shut the door quickly, and slammed her notes down on the table. She laid on the ground with her pillow underneath her head.

"I just need a twenty to thirty minute power nap." Akko thought. "I can't take it anymore. I don't care if my sleep schedule is messed up for the rest of my life!" The floor was carpeted, but she lacked a blanket. It wasn't particularly cold in the room, so she didn't mind too much. Akko tried to fall asleep, but was having some trouble. Though her eyes were shut, and her head was in a comfortable place, she couldn't stop her mind from running a mile a minute. Earlier that day, she had given Lotte back ner _Nightfall_ volume at the end of lunch. But Amanda and Diana were mysteriously absent from the table.

"The two of them got huffy over who was more stressed out over your well being." Sucy told Akko when she returned from Diana's room.

"Is that...what happened?" Akko asked.

"Diana asked us about your condition earlier this week, and we told her." Sucy continued. "Then Amanda explained why you were probably stressed out, and Diana got in a tizzy about helping out your friends when they're troubled."

"Oh."

"It's not like they both didn't have good points, in fact, they pretty much agreed with each other. But tensions were high, the two were hellbent on disagreeing with each other, and there was nothing we could say." Sucy got up from the table, tray in hand. "Anyway Akko, if you want me to help you out, then I'll have time after next class wraps up." Sucy walked away from the table, leaving Akko to ponder the situation with Lotte, Jasminka, and Constanze.

"They fought over who was more worried about me?" Akko asked.

"I still don't know what to make of it." Lotte said. "Amanda implied she was struggling more than Diana, even though we don't know Diana's current situation, or why she had to leave the school for a week." The exasperated girl sighed. "I just wish this tournament was done and over with already." Lotte's words echoed in Akko's ears as she tossed and turned trying to fall asleep. But then she remembered what Hannah and Barbara had told her about not having to worry about things caused by her reviving magic.

"Yeah right, 'I don't have to worry about other's inconveniences.'" Akko thought as a pit grew in her stomach. "My friends are fighting because of me. But I guess this outcome was unavoidable. What was I supposed to do? Let the missile land?" It took fifteen of Akko's planned twenty minutes of rest to fall asleep.

Hours later, Akko woke up. It was probably ten at night when she sat up and stretched. Akko got to her feet and cracked her back. She knew it was late, and her attempt at a power nap had done nothing but jip herself out of a day of studying and preparation for the tournament, as well as a good night's sleep. The tired girl scratched her head in frustration.

"Things have to change, or else I'm going to fall asleep on the day of the tournament." She took her pillow, and was about to exit the room, but the reflection in the door's mirror caught her eye. She turned around to find words scribbled on her blackboard. There was a message that read, "Don't give up, Akko! You can do it!"

"Who wrote that there?" Akko asked herself. "I locked the door-" For whatever reason, her head moved upwards, where she spotted the same ceiling tile that was cocked the wrong way from earlier that week. But this time, it was cocked at a completely different angle than before. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this!" Akko thought as she slid a chair right underneath the ceiling tile. Her hands were ready to knock the tile upwards, to see if anything was resting on the other side. However, right as she was about to do so, the tile moved by itself, revealing a girl hanging upside down.

"Hiya!" The mystery girl greeted Akko with one pand perched by her side in a cute fashion, and a smile revealing her sharp teeth. Akko shrieked and flew back from surprise. She hit the ground hard, landing square on her back. The startled girl could do nothing but tremble as this uninvited guest jumped down from inside the ceiling. "Pleased to finally meet you, Miss Kagari!" The girl crawled out of the ceiling, and turned herself around, angling her fall right on the chair Akko was previously standing on.

"Who- who are you?" Akko said with terror evident in her voice.

"I'm sorry it took so long for us to meet, but, my name is Elizabeth!" Now that this girl was in a more visible position, Akko could get a better look at her. The girl had pointy hair, and from the looks of things, was about the same height as her. Her grin revealed sharp teeth, and her posture resembled Diana's. Despite her fragile appearance, she was quite active, something that became evident when she jumped from the chair and landed right in front of Akko, looking over her from where she was planted on the floor.

"What do you want with me?" Akko asked while her face went pale as day. Elizabeth smiled once again, and reached out her hand as if they were business partners.

"I just want to help you prepare for the tournament! I'm your number one fan after all!"

 **NOTE: Continued in Chapter 5:** **Consideration and Cause**


End file.
